Bombers look blah, but it’s early

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/06/2015 (3993 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are not ready. And they may not be for some time. Sorry to break it to you, but this project is going to need a little more time. Maybe, July, maybe August. Maybe longer.

Continuity breeds productivity. Change brings its own set of challenges, and the Bombers, who will be better for it in the end, must now face the reality of their off-season.

Change was the buzzword this winter, and while all those new names on the coaching staff and the roster looked great in February, it’s a much different thing to put it together on the field.

The need to fill seats and sell Grey Cup tickets doesn’t make a group of players understand one another any quicker. The marketing department can hope for wins all it wants. But the coaches and players need to mesh, and two pre-season games aren’t enough.

The guys on the offensive line need to start to think as one. To move as a unit. New linebackers and defensive linemen must learn where one another is heading. To fill gaps and how to play for each other.

Friday night they were the Blah Bombers in a 26-15 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Hey, maybe it was just a dress rehearsal and the Bombers purposely kept a lid on things. Or maybe it was exactly what it looked like, a team out of sync making a lot of mistakes.

They looked like a team that has been together for little more than a month. The Ticats? They’ve been working together for three years. They speak the same language and know the names of one another’s children.

The Bombers are still calling each other by their numbers. But it’s time for the introductions to end and for this party to move from the foyer into the kitchen.

It’s time to become family.

So what if they start slow? Does it mean they’re doomed to another season outside of the playoff picture? Not in the CFL.

Last season we saw the Bombers burn out to a fast start, but it was hollow. A mirage. At 5-1 after one-third of the schedule last season the Bombers record looked playoff-worthy but the team on the field, under close scrutiny, did not.

So for the very same reason one shouldn’t have been overexcited with last season’s fast start, a crawl out of the gate shouldn’t be cause for getting all worked up this summer. It’s where you are at the end, not at the start or in the middle.

This team is better than last year’s. In so many ways. Tougher, more athletic, better-coached and led by a more seasoned and confident quarterback.

Once they figure out the clutch and stop grinding the gears, this team might be able to speed. But they’re gonna stall in the driveway a few times.

The Bombers will make a raft of cuts today, and by the time they return to the field early next week, they’ll resemble a team in numbers, if not in familiarity.

GM Kyle Walters and his scouting staff wanted to give head coach Mike O’Shea a competitive camp. Depth at every position and battles for roster spots and starting jobs. Mission accomplished.

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But now it’s time to form a team. For players to get comfortable in their positions, for schemes to be tailored to this group’s strengths and to work together as a group. To think about winning games and not jobs. The guy beside you is no longer your enemy, he’s your teammate.

Talking team is easy. Living together and fighting together is harder. It takes trust and loyalty and time. Bonds need to be formed.

Walters and O’Shea purposely created a training-camp culture of discomfort. No one knew if they were safe.

Now the survivors can begin to consider themselves Blue Bombers. And in time, that will actually become true. Then we can judge this group with an accurate eye.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless